Peter Guillam climbed once again the familiar staircase in the familiar Mitteleuropa backwater where George Smiley had holed up for yet another go at retirement. The door was ajar; Smiley was in the bedroom packing his suitcase.

My House of Sky (Little Toller) tells the hitherto largely unknown story of J.A. Baker, author of nature writing classic The Peregrine. Working with an archive of materials that only came to light in 2013, Hetty Saunders provides an invaluable ...